


Get Lost in a Good Book

by richmahogany



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-02-25
Packaged: 2018-01-13 17:58:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1235803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/richmahogany/pseuds/richmahogany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reese reads one of Finch's books, with unsettling consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Get Lost in a Good Book

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic for Person of Interest. I'm not sure I've really got the characters nailed down yet, but this is only a bit of fun, so I think I got away with it.

The library was silent. There was no sound apart from the faint hum of traffic outside and the even fainter hum of computer equipment inside. Reese wasn’t used to being alone in the library, but when he had arrived this morning, Finch was just going out. He said he had to see to “a private matter” and that he would be back before long. Meanwhile Reese had to entertain himself. Well, he could read (not his favorite pastime, but still), and he was after all in a library, so…

Reese grabbed a book from the nearest shelf and read the first couple of paragraphs. It seemed entertaining enough. He turned to the cover. The book was called “The Naked Sun”. He decided it would do and sat down in a chair he knew to be reasonably comfortable. The book turned out to be a science fiction novel. It involved someone travelling from Earth to a world elsewhere in the galaxy, and there were a lot of robots. These robots seemed to be very sophisticated, almost human in their appearance and in the way they spoke. Reese almost laughed when he read their carefully constructed, grammatically correct sentences and multi-syllabic words – they sounded kind of familiar. He read a few more pages. Suddenly he let the book sink into his lap. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. Something he had just read, which was only now beginning to sink in. Where was it? He turned back a page. One of the robots had been passing himself off as human, which had annoyed the human protagonist of the story: “It seemed to him that such needlessly formal sentence structure might easily betray the robotic nature of the creature.” This needless formality was what had amused him so much a minute ago because it made the robot sound exactly like Finch. But now a different thought crept up on him. What if there were implications that were not amusing at all? This was only a novel, but what if it was actually true? What if there really was a “robotic nature” that betrayed itself that way? Stop it, he told himself. You’re crazy. The silence in the library is getting to you.

Reese returned to the book and read on, but the nagging thought at the back of his mind would not let him concentrate. He let the book sink again. OK, he thought, run with it for a moment. It’s nonsense, of course, but…actually, it would explain so much. Not just the overly formal language, but the lack of emotion. The stiff demeanor. The deadpan stares. The intense privacy – well, you wouldn’t want anybody to find out _that_ , would you? Not to mention the almost symbiotic relationship with The Machine. It all made sense. But if it was true – where had he come from? Why was he here? Were there more? And what of The Machine? They might have been using it for good, but was there some sinister purpose to it, something he didn’t know about? After all, the exact nature of The Machine was pretty much a mystery to him. There could be all kinds of things going on behind his back. Reese’s stomach tightened with every new thought that intruded on his mind.

A sudden noise startled him. The rattling of the gate and uneven footsteps announced Finch’s return. He would surely notice immediately that Reese had found out. What was he going to do? It was too late to panic as Finch rounded the corner and stood directly before him. For a moment they just stared at each other. Finally Finch spoke: “So,” he said, “you know. Shame, I would have liked to continue our work for a bit longer. I rather enjoyed it. But there are greater schemes at stake here, which I am bound to protect. I’m sorry, Mr Reese, but I have no choice but to terminate your employment.”

Reese shivered under Finch’s icy stare. How could he ever have thought him human? It all seemed so obvious now. Too late. He tried to get up, to knock Finch over, to run away – but he couldn’t move. Suddenly hands were around his throat, pressing with a force he never knew Finch possessed. He gasped for air, he tried to kick or push, but he still couldn’t move. He felt himself getting weaker and weaker – and then he fell into blackness.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying on the floor. He could see the legs of the chair he had been sitting on. He could see the book next to it. As he slowly regained his senses, he noticed that the library was no longer silent. He heard the clicking of a computer keyboard, and a faint scent of tea hung in the air.

“I was just about to wake you, Mr Reese.” Finch’s voice came from somewhere behind a screen.

Reese slowly picked himself up from the floor and sat back down in the chair. “Must’ve dropped off,” he mumbled.

“Indeed – all the way off the chair. I think I warned you before that excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages will upset your natural circadian rhythm.”

Reese grunted. “Haven’t been sleeping well for a few nights,” he said.

“And I was trying to point out the cause,” Finch answered. “If you didn’t drink so much coffee…”

“Do you ever sleep?” Reese interrupted. “Because, when I call you in the middle of the night, you always answer, and you don’t sound like I woke you up.”

“I sleep when I have to.”

“Yes, but where? Here, in the library?”

“I sleep in my bed, Mr Reese.”

Well, thought Reese, that’s me warned off his territory.

“If you’re sure you awake now,” Finch continued, “could you come over here and look at this? We have work to do.” He swivelled round to look at Reese. “I’ll even make you some coffee, if it helps.”

As he got up and walked over, Reese took a deep breath to dispel the last few lingering wisps of his nightmare. This, at least, was the Finch he knew: the quick flashes of humor underneath that stiff and formal surface, the quiet determination to get on with their work, the trust in their partnership, which at the same time did not stop him from worrying that Reese might find out more about him than he was comfortable with. He was only human, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> "The Naked Sun" is a novel by Isaac Asimov. Unsurprisingly, the idea for this story came to me when I read the book and had the same amused reaction to the robotic language. And it is a good book.


End file.
